IV. ATTRIBUTES
AND SKILLSI have presented many skills in Evil Dead D6 differently than those
in West End Games' games or my
own conversions. To keep the simple, cinematic feel, many individual
skills have been aggregated into single talents. For example, Firearms,
Missile Weapons and Heavy Weapons have been condensed in the easy-to-remember
Shooting
Stuff. Accuracy and reality are not major considerations of this
game--ease of play is. As always, GM's should tinker with these rules
as they see fit, but I just wanted to let you know what I was aiming for
with these rules...

Attributes:Attributes represent a character's physical and mental characteristics.
Each Attribute controls a number of skills whose starting level depends
on the current score of the Attribute (see Character
Creation).

Body: a measure of the
character's physical development: strength, dexterity and stamina.

Terms:Skill name: Aside from just the skill name, the skill
may be designated as (A)dvanced or (S)pecial. Advanced skills usually
require prerequisites and are more difficult in which to gain levels.
Special skills are particular for some other reason, usually because there
are certain rules that apply only to those skills.
Prerequisites: Any skills and their levels that must be
attained before the skill in question may be taken.
Time of Use: Amount of time that passes while the character
attempts the skill (regardless of whether or not it is successful).
This can be highly variable and depends on the GM's discretion. An
action that takes 1 round means that it is the only skill the character
can attempt in that round. An action that takes "1 action" can be
attempted in conjunction with as many other actions as the character can
perform in one round. Other attempts may take anywhere from a minute
to days (Scrounge, for example). Difficulty numbers may vary
depending on time spent as well.
Difficulty: This gives an approximate Difficulty level
to successfully use the skill. GM's should vary this depening on
the situation: including stress, available tools, amount of time
dedicated to the task, familiarity with the situation and other factors.
Description: A (hopefully) brief description of what the
skill does includes and other notes.

If a skill is listed by not given any other information, assume that
it is available in one of West End
Games' products (probably the Star Wars books, 3rd Edition).

BODY

Burnin' RubberTime Taken: One round.
Specializations: Particular types of vehicles, such as
Motorcyles, Jeeps, Hovercraft, etc.
Every hero needs a valiant steed, and chances are
yours is a Ford Pinto. But it's now about the size of the wheels,
right? It's all about the heart of the wheelman (or woman).
With this skill, you can steer through a rush of oncoming traffic, plow
your Toyota Corolla through a horde of undead skeletons, or attempt to
leap your motocycle across a screaming cavern opening up to some hell dimension.
Yee-haw!

Flyboy/girlTime of Use: 1 action.
Specializations: Particular models of machinery within the chosen
category.
With this skill, our hero can get into anything
that flies, punch a few buttons and be off--provided that the engine works,
the wings are still attached and there's fuel in the tank.

Getting Out of the WayTime Taken: One action. See the Combat
section for full Dodges.
Specializations: None.
Getting Out of the Way represents a character's
abilitity to avoid attacks, falling rocks, and the other myriad of physical
dangers sure to be aimed at them during their adventures.

Jock SkillsTime Take: One action (but GM's may decide to that some
Jock actions require more time)
Specializations: Jumping, Climbing, Running, Throwing
Difficulty: Generally Moderate (15), but varies greatly
depending on the act attempted and conditions. Some Difficulty charts
are given below:
You were a jock in high school and those skills
are serving you well. Jock Skills covers all the basics:
running, jumping, climbing and tumbling. All of them are handy when
running from an army of the undead.
Difficulties for Jumping may be found below:

Difficulty

Approximate Distance Covered

5

Horitzontal: about 2.5 feet.
Vertical: about 3 feet.

10

Horizontal: about 4 feet.
Vertical: about 4 feet.

15

Horizontal: about 6 feet.
Vetical: about 5.5 feet.

20

Horizontal: about 10 feet
Vertical: about 6 feet

25

Horizontal: about 15 feet.
Vertical: about 7 feet

30

Horizontal: about 20 feet.
Vertical: about 8 feet

35

Horizontal: about 25 feet.
Vertical: about 10 feet.

40

Horizontal: about 30 feet (this is about the current world record).
Vertical: about 12 feet.

50

Horizontal: about 40 feet.
Vertical: about 15 feet.

Beyond 50, a jumper may only achieve these distances if
aided by magic or technology. Even Mojo Points and CP's should not
be permitted to carry a jumper this far.

60

Horizontal: about 75 feet
Vertical: about 35 feet.

70

Horizontal: about 100 feet.
Vertical: about 50 feet.

80

Horizontal: about 125 feet.
Vertical: about 75 feet.

For each additional 5, add about 25 feet to the result.

Difficulties for Lifting may be found below:

Weight of Object

Difficulty

20 pounds

Very Easy (5)

50 pounds

Easy (10)

75 pounds

Moderate (15)

100 pounds

Difficult (20)

150 pounds

Very Difficult (25)

200 pounds

Heroic (30)

Increase Difficulty by 5 for each additional 50 pounds

Ride Big Hairy BeastsTime of Use: 1 action.
Specializations: Particular animals.
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate for tamed beasts with some
riding tackle. Moderate to Difficult for more ornery beasts and cruder
conditions. Difficulty may also increase if the animal suddenly rears,
riding conditions are harsh, or other obstacles complicate the effort.
Actually, this skill covers all riding--so
it may be extended to Big Scaly Beasts, Big Bony Beasts, and all the other
Big Beasts that someone might try and throw a saddle over. This skill
may also be used when the character tries to handle or treat such animals.

Shooting StuffTime Taken: One action.
Specializations: Particular weapons classes. Flamethrowers,
Shotguns, Assault Rifles, Handguns, etc.
In Evil Dead D6, we're not real worried about the
peculiarities of particular firearms. This skill covers anything
you can pick up, aim, and fire at the undead bastards. That's all
that's really important, after all.
The Difficulty for a particular attempt depends
on the weapon type and the range, as well as other factors outlined in
the Combat section.

Stabbing, Slashing and BludgeoningTime of Use: 1 action.
Specializations: Particular weapon "classes": e.g.,
swords; small pointy things, blunt objects; power tools etc.
This is the skill to go to when you have to
pick up whatever is handy--a crowbar, chair, an old book, whatever--and
smash it against the unholy shell of some hell-beast. Use it often,
use it well.
The Difficulty for this skill depends on the
weapon used, the attack attempted, and a few other factors outlined in
the Combat section.

Tough Guy (A)Time of Use: 1 round.
Specializations: Particular forms of physical duress:
Drugs, Pain, Exhaustion, etc.
Difficulty: Easy for mild duress (short sprints, trying
to stay away late one night, etc.). Moderate for more powerful stresses
(the effects of a lot of alcohol, trying to stay away after a good deal
of physical activity, etc.). Difficulty for intense situations (fighting
off deadite infection, staying awake after days without sleep, etc.).
A Tough Guy (or Gal) has an unusual
physical resiliency to outside duress, such as pain or drugs. It
may also be useful when his body attempts to fight off deadite infection,
which really sucks by the way. If a character's Tough Guy
rating is higher than his Body score, he may use Tough Guy to attempt
to resist damage.

BRAINS

Blowing Stuff UpTime of Use: 1 action to several minutes.
Difficulty: Depends on action attempted. Generally
Easy to create small bombs, Moderate to diffuse standard explosives.
Need to
slap together a pipe bomb? Want to detonate a few pounds of dynamite
right under some deadite hell-beast? Just like playing with firecrackers?
This here is the skill for you. Just make sure you measure the fuse
right...

Fixing StuffTime of Use: 1 round to several minutes.
Specializations: Fixing particular objects such as cars,
weapons, or computers.
Someone with Fixing Stuff can get almost
any mechanical object working again, at least for a few minutes.
GM's may vary the amount of time a fixed machine will continue to work
depending on the success of the character's attempt.

Attempted Action

Difficulty

Getting a decent, but malfunctioning, car started

Easy (10)

Fixing the heat sinks on an old computer so it will run without overheating.

Hocus-Pocus (A).Time of Use: 1 round.
Specializations: Particular forms of Magic: Ancient
Texts; Artifacts; Alchemy; Spiritual Channeling, etc.
Prerequisites: Languages: Ancient 4D; Schoolin' 4D.
Difficulty: Easy to recognize "common" or well-known artifacts,
spells and demons (i.e., the Ark of the Covenant, the Devil). Moderate
for more unusual items (i.e., the Necromonicon, the Hand of Glory).
Difficult for the darkest and most secret magicks (i.e., Cthulu's slumbering
place, etc.).
Hocus-Pocus covers the gamut of magic-related
knowledge. Most normal folks don't know squat about the magical world,
demons, and arcane relics. But this character has studied available
arcane treatises, can perform at least some basic ritualistic spells, and
can recognize a demonic incantation after a bit of study. Of course,
they sometimes make the mistake of saying the incantation aloud before
they realize what they're saying and unleashing untold hell on Earth. But
them's the breaks...
See the Magic section
for information on using Hocus-Pocus to cast ritualistic spells.

How Not To Die in the WildTime of Use: One roll should represent 1 "event."
Specializations: Particular habitats: Forest, Jungle,
Urban, Aquatic, Desert, Arctic, etc.
This character has the suite of skills necessary
to survive out in adverse conditions. She knows which mushrooms are
edible and which ones will drive you blind and insane with hallucinations.
She can make a passable shelter out of twigs and mud, capture water in
the petals of flowers, and rig up small traps to capture bunnies for dinner.
She also knows how to navigate by landmarks and the stars, to avoid getting
lost. Good stuff if you're chased into a deep, dark wood with no
real hope for rescue...

LanguagesTime of Use: 1 round.
Specializations: Particular languages.
Difficulty: Easy to read basic texts; Moderate to Difficult
for more complicated treatises and grimoires. Moderate to speak fluently.
Difficult to speak without an accent.
Languages represents the breadth of
a character's knowledge of earthly linguistics. For each die invested
in Languages, the character may pick one language in which he is fluent
(+10 to all rolls with it). All characters are considered fluent
automatically in their native tongue.
One Specialization offered is "Ancient
Tongues," which indicates a character's familiarity with dead languages
such as Summarian, Babylonian, etc. The character read texts written
in these languages and perhaps pronounce a few words in an uncertain stutter.

Medicine (A)Time of Use: 1 round to several hours or days.
Prerequisites: Science 101 4D, Stopping the Bleeding 5D,
Schoolin' 4D
Specializations: Particular areas: cardiology, optomology,
etc.
Difficulty: Depends on action attempted. 5 to render
basic aid. 10 to peform advanced aid (patient is Mortally Wounded).
15 to perform light surgery. 20 for basic surgery. 25 for invasive
surgery or to diagnosis a rare disorder. 30 for experimental
or novel work.
Special: Though Medicine is under Brains, when the skill
is taken, it is at 1D (not the character's Brains skill). At 1D will be
considered a medic or med student. At 2D, a registered Nurse or an
intern. At 3D, a doctor. At 4D, a specialist or experienced
doctor. At 5D and above, the doctor will have a good reputation in
the field, perhaps even be world reknowned.
Medicine represents the whole of medical
sciences, from advanced medic procedures, to surgery, to experimentation
and development. When a character uses the Medicine skill to perform
first aid and basic field/emergency procedures (including light surgery),
it is added to the character's Stopping the Bleeding skill. Furthermore,
it may be added to Sciences 101 rolls when performing biological experiments.
Finally, it may be added to Nerd Skills when doing a medical research in
libraries or with a computer.
Penalties may accrue when working in substandard
conditions.

Nerd SkillsTime of Use: 1 round.
Difficulty: Depends on the action taken.
Yeah, I know it's not nice to generalize, but you
know as well as I do that gross, unjust generalizations make our lives
easier every day. So, here's one: Nerd Skills includes
all those skills you might normally associate with a nerd (of which I am
one, by the way): using computers, researching stuff at the library,
and knowing the difference between a Vulcan and a Klingon.

Schoolin'Time of Use: 1 round to several hours.
Specializations: Particular areas of study.
Schoolin' indicates whether the character
actually paid attention in high school and bothered with college.
Characters may make Schoolin' checks in areas that require general knowledge,
such as Geography, History, Greek mythology, basic mathematics, etc.
This differs from Sciences 101 in that the knowledge is not generally
applicable to real problems in front of the character--it only indicates
that the character has a very general knowledge.
The table below gives a rough idea of what each
level in Schoolin' represents. Note that it is not necessary to go to college
to have a level 3 or 4 Schoolin', it just means that the character
has invested time in learning on his own (in fact, lots of people
who graduate from college never paid much attention and might only have
a level 2 Schoolin').

Comparative Schoolin' Level

Schooling Equivalent

1

Elementary School

2

High School

3

College

4

Post-graduate studies

5

Advanced studies

6

World reknowned scholar

7

Revolutionary scholar

Science 101Time of Use: 1 action (to several hours, depending on the action).
Specializations: Particular fields of study: Physics,
Chemistry, Biology, etc.
Difficulty: Easy (10), but increased for more complex
or obscure scientific theories.
Science 101 represents knowledge in
fields such as physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology. This
can be used to whip up basic chemistry experiments (or very basic explosives),
figure out the arc of a projectile, or examine a fossil and make a guess
at what it was adapted to do.

ScroungeTime of Use: 1 round to several hours (GM's discretion).
Specializations: None.
Difficulty: Moderate (15). Modify for available resources
to scrounge in (dumps are better than jail cells).
Scrounge is the ability to find useful things
just about anywhere. Need a broken television? A battery with
some juice still in it? This is the skill for you. Find both
useful things and semi-valuable junk. With the right skills, you
may find just the part you need to get your car, toaster or mechanical
hand working again...

Stopping the BleedingTime of Use: 1 round
Difficulty: Depends on the injury and available supplies.
See the Combat: Healing section.
If you can plan on anything in Evil Dead D6,
you can plan on getting hurt. You will be gouged, punched, scratched,
and maybe even have to cut off one or your own limbs. Sound fun?
Well, when it happens, you'll be bleeding. And blood only attracts more
evil scum, so you may want to know how to stop it. Stopping the
Bleeding includes all general first aid and emergency medical skills
needed for bandaging wounds, setting bones, and performing CPR. More
advanced stuff will required training in the Medicine
skill.

Thieving SlimeballTime of Use: 1 round to several minutes.
Specializations: Various skills of ill-repute skills:
Pick Pockets, Lockpicking, Circumventing Security; Scoring Drugs, etc.
Difficulty: Generally Moderate (15). Varies widely
depending on awareness or quality of the thief's target.
An Thieving Slimeball has a history of juvenile
delinquincy, petty crimes, and criminal ties. This character has
learned the skills to break the law in (usually) discrete ways: stealing,
breaking and entering, fencing stolen goods, etc. It may not sound
heroic, but it beats minimum wage at the S-Mart.

SENSES

Barking OrdersTime of Use: 1 action.
Specializations: Particular units: Civilians, Military
Squads, Kindergarteners, etc.
Difficulty: Very Easy for familiar troops in calm situations.
Moderate for strangers in stressed situations. Difficult for extreme
conditions.
You like to tell people what to do and
they usually listen. It's not just about giving good orders, it's
about giving orders good. Good and loud that is. An imperative
skill when you're trying to organize a bunch of freaked out villagers to
fend off a deadite horde.

Cheap BastardTime of Use: 1 action.
Specializations: Value and haggling over particular items:
Books, Weapons, Used Cars, etc.
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate, depending on the value of
the item being haggled over. Can be an Opposing Roll against an opponant's
Cheap Bastard skill.
This character knows the value of a buck,
perhaps a bit too well. You know what things cost and what you're
willing to pay, and you're more than happy to dicker over price and quantity
until the cows come home. Sure, it annoys your friends when you figure
out the check and never leave more than 15% tip. But, when they want
to buy a used car, appraise the value of their house, or go toe-to-toe
with a sleazeball salesman, you're the first one they call.

Lying, Mooching and Cheatin'Time of Use: 1 round to several.
Specializations: None.
Difficulty: Easy for particularly gullible audiences.
Moderate for mildly distrustful ones. Difficult for paranoid and
suspicious targets. GM's may permit a target to make a Stubborn Jackass
Opposed Roll. GM's may also modify the Difficulty depending on how
well the player role-plays his Lying and Mooching attempt.
When a character Lies and Mooches,
he's trying to skate by on something less than the truth. It may
not be an out-right lie, but it certainly ain't the dialogue of saints.
This character also knows how to play a system, cheat at cards, and forge
documents. In general, he's got a natural knack for being a dishonest
slimeball. Ah, there are worse things in this dark and horrible world....

Paying AttentionTime of Use: GM's discretion. It depends on how
large the area searched is and what is being sought.
Specializations: None.
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate, depending on conditions
(available light, sounds, distractions, etc.). Can be an Opposed
Roll to someone's Sneaky attempt.
This skill represents how aware a character is to
her surroundings. Does she just stumble through life oblivious, or
does she jump at every small sound? Paying Attention can be
both a blessing--helping to avoid ambushes, pick up small clues, and sense
oncoming threats--and a curse. But if you don't pay at least some
attention, chances are you'll be dead before dawn...

SneakyTime of Use: 1 round.
Specializations: Type of habitat in which character seeks
to be Sneaky in: Forest, Urban, Aquatic, etc.
Difficulty: Easy to Difficult, depending on conditions
(light, dried leaves on the ground, etc.)
A Sneaky character knows how to move around
unnoticed. It includes the ability to move silently, hide in shadows,
and to go unnoticed in a crowd. The character may also attempt to
disguise himself or just generally pass without any traces. Often,
Sneakiness
will be the difference between escaping a deadly enemy and a perilous brawl.

Stubborn JackassTime of Use: 1 action. May sometimes be used to oppose
mind control/persuasion attempts without requiring an additional action.
Specializations: None.
Difficulty: Generally used in opposition to some outside
force, which will set the Difficulty. Otherwise, defaut to Easy (10).
A character who is a well-developed Stubborn
Jackass as a firmly constructed world view that borders on monomaniacal
or self-righteous. He's hard as hell to convince of damn near anything.
While this can make him a pain in everyone's ass, it can also save his
life. He's less likely to be swayed by fear, temptations from evil,
and other human weaknesses of the spirit.

Talkin' PrettyTime of Use: 1 round.
Specializations: Various forms of persuasion: Negotiations;
Seduction; Debate, etc.
Difficulty: Easy for a friend audience, Moderate for mildly
distrusting or audiences of strangers, Difficult for openly hostile audiences.
GM's may permit targets to make a Stubborn Jackass roll to avoid being
swayed.
A character who knows how to Talk Pretty
can win over the hearts and minds of anyone willing to listen. Well,
almost anyone.